simple pleasures or: this is a boring post, don't read just look at the pretty pictures!

There's something so satisfying about drinking hot tea from a glass. The glass gets freaking hot though, so I drink it while holding the saucer. Just seeing that pale yellow turn to gold with a little spoonful of honey is beautiful. Oh how I love tea. Must've been British in another lifetime.

4 days until Catherine arrives. I'm a bit nervous. I want her to have fun, and I want to be a good host, but it's the third week of classes, and I shouldn't be missing any. The timing's just so off. I told all my friends visiting this, and they understand, but there's still that feeling there like I'm not being a good friend by choosing school. Catherine and I will have the weekend and the opera on Monday night, but aside from that she'll have whole afternoons to herself for two days. I'm glad she's a cool individual who doesn't mind hanging out alone.

In preparation, have done cleaning and arranging so that two people can stay here comfortably. Living in this space has been sort of like a tutorial for the real world when I'll be living on my own. Just like cleaning everything, making sure things work properly, taking care of plants. Every living situation in college has always felt like a dorm, even when I moved out of the dorms. Sharing everything and doing this chore or that because it's my week. I never paid attention to decorating or just making a nice, comfortable and pleasing space for myself and for others. I guess it's because I never had my own space other than my bed, my desk, and my section of a closet. Here I can be myself. Although I wish I could change my curtains.

This is all I need: a pan, a pot, and a bottle opener. I love the clog bottle cap opener that I got in Amsterdam.

I don't really need the stools by the counter since they just get in the way, so I put one next to the desk for the phone, and the other by the heater/entryway for my bag. And the director chairs are now hidden under my bed and not cluttering up the entryway. I only need them when I put the bed up anyway.I took some stuff of my walls and prepared them to be sent home, but it still looks cluttered anyway. I love all my movie ticket and museum ticket stubs (you can see them below the metro map and to the right of the North By Northwest flier I got in Amsterdam. I think I might make a collage and frame them all when I get back. One collage of all my ticket stubs, and then another collage of all the film fliers I got:This is my desk space, the BEFORE picture, because I just re-arranged it. It looks cleaner now. Here is the AFTER. I used the internet box thingy (my English is shot to crap right now, hence all these photos) as a little bookend and shoved most of my books into the nook only keeping the French ones close by. I also brought out this yellow lamp that I was previously hiding. I don't know why. It still looks cluttered, but nicely cluttered...Haha...I just remembered why this is so much fun and why I'm writing about this while you probably don't really care what my place looks like. I wanted to be an interior decorator when I was little. Funny how I just remembered this...

Anyway, I think my favorite though is using the ashtray I found in the studio to hold all my loose change. I also finished a large candle and used the votive for my pens and fountain ink cartridges.

You can see more of my studio photos in my Photobucket album.